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In reply to the discussion: You have got to be fucking kidding me... [View all]erronis
(15,460 posts)72. Ex-Florida policeman gets 25 years in prison for killing black motorist
A former Florida police officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for fatally shooting a black motorist who was awaiting a tow truck in October 2015.
FILE PHOTO: Family and supporters attend the funeral for Corey Jones at the Payne Chapel AME of West Palm Beach, Florida October 31, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Stocker/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
Nouman Raja, 41, was fired from the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department shortly after he killed Corey Jones, 31, while on plainclothes duty, and was convicted last month by a jury of manslaughter and first-degree murder.
The conviction was unusual in a country in which police officers kill roughly 1,000 people each year, a disproportionate number of them black men, usually without facing prosecution, according to a Washington Post database on police shootings.
Jones relatives asked Judge Joseph Marx to give Raja the maximum sentence of life in prison during the sentencing hearing. The judge said it was a heartbreaking case before handing down the sentence of 25 years, the minimum required under state law, for both counts, to run concurrently.
Police said Raja was in plainclothes and driving an unmarked van when he encountered a car he thought was abandoned on a West Palm Beach highway exit ramp on Oct. 18, 2015, a few hours before sunrise.
Jones was in the car, waiting for a tow truck. Prosecutors said Raja never identified himself as a police officer and that the officer acted aggressively in a way that likely led Jones to mistake him for a robber.
Police said Jones pulled out a handgun that he had legally purchased three days earlier before Raja fired at him six times within 13 seconds. Raja hit Jones three times and Jones died of a gunshot wound to his chest.
Rajas defense team has argued that their client feared for his life when Jones drew his gun.
FILE PHOTO: Family and supporters attend the funeral for Corey Jones at the Payne Chapel AME of West Palm Beach, Florida October 31, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Stocker/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
Nouman Raja, 41, was fired from the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department shortly after he killed Corey Jones, 31, while on plainclothes duty, and was convicted last month by a jury of manslaughter and first-degree murder.
The conviction was unusual in a country in which police officers kill roughly 1,000 people each year, a disproportionate number of them black men, usually without facing prosecution, according to a Washington Post database on police shootings.
Jones relatives asked Judge Joseph Marx to give Raja the maximum sentence of life in prison during the sentencing hearing. The judge said it was a heartbreaking case before handing down the sentence of 25 years, the minimum required under state law, for both counts, to run concurrently.
Police said Raja was in plainclothes and driving an unmarked van when he encountered a car he thought was abandoned on a West Palm Beach highway exit ramp on Oct. 18, 2015, a few hours before sunrise.
Jones was in the car, waiting for a tow truck. Prosecutors said Raja never identified himself as a police officer and that the officer acted aggressively in a way that likely led Jones to mistake him for a robber.
Police said Jones pulled out a handgun that he had legally purchased three days earlier before Raja fired at him six times within 13 seconds. Raja hit Jones three times and Jones died of a gunshot wound to his chest.
Rajas defense team has argued that their client feared for his life when Jones drew his gun.
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Make a standard for hiring and conduct and stick to them or fines paid via cops retirement and
uponit7771
Apr 2019
#3
We've been waiting for years for something like this data base, great post!
marble falls
Apr 2019
#4
They're are well known to look the other way when they know a man is beating his wife and or kids.
Texin
Apr 2019
#25
And their union is so powerful that it's almost impossible to fire a bad cop. nt
tblue37
Apr 2019
#28
+Remember when trump said he wished cops would rough up people they arrested ? As if
lunasun
Apr 2019
#17
True. We're back to Hitler's Brown Shirts--without the benefit of a DeLorean or a flux capacitor.
CaptYossarian
Apr 2019
#46
Yes, it's bad cops, but it's more about using the police and our criminal justice system to solve...
Yavin4
Apr 2019
#10
Exactly. The conditions that cops have to work under attracts a certain element to the job.
Yavin4
Apr 2019
#36
We've reduced education to a series of standardized tests which advatange certain learning abilities
Yavin4
Apr 2019
#65
Yup. But how much else was unreported, undiscovered, covered up, never investigated?
Bernardo de La Paz
Apr 2019
#27
I'm not blaming behavior on low pay. I'm saying hire more selectively in the first place.
MH1
Apr 2019
#66
Yes, ACTUALLY, they are #14 - right there in the article you posted. (USA Today article)
MH1
Apr 2019
#82
AND, SERIOUSLY !!! ** OSHA lacks enforcement (slips trips falls occupations); Overexertion??
MH1
Apr 2019
#83
The militarization of the law enforcement organizations is a real problem...
Wounded Bear
Apr 2019
#38
100% agree. We need to do this for all public servants. Cops, teachers, firefighters, etc.
MadDAsHell
Apr 2019
#58